Plant taxonomy is an ancient discipline facing new challenges with the current availability of a vast array of molecular approaches which allow reliable genealogy-based classifications. Although the primary focus of plant taxonomy is on the delimitation of species, molecular approaches also provide a better understanding of evolutionary processes, a particularly important issue for some taxonomic complex groups.
Molecular Plant Taxonomy: Methods and Protocols describes laboratory protocols based on the use of nucleic acids and chromosomes for plant taxonomy, as well as guidelines for phylogenetic analysis of molecular data. Experts in the field also contribute review and application chapters that will encourage the reader to develop an integrative taxonomy approach, combining nucleic acid and cytogenetic data together with other crucial information (taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, ecology, reproductive biology, biogeography, paleobotany), which will help not only to best circumvent species delimitation but also to resolve the evolutionary processes in play.
Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible, Molecular Plant Taxonomy: Methods and Protocols seeks to provide conceptual as well as technical guidelines to plant taxonomists and geneticists.
1. Plant Taxonomy: An Historical Perspective, Current Challenges and Perspectives Germinal Rouhan and Myriam Gaudeul
2. Guidelines for the Choice of Sequences for Molecular Plant Taxonomy Pascale Besse
3. Leaf Tissue Sampling and DNA Extraction Protocols Kassa Semagn
4. DNA Extraction from Herbarium Specimens Lenka Zaveska Drabkova
5. Analysis of Variation in Chloroplast DNA Sequences Berthold Heinze, Agnieszka Koziel-Monte, and Daniela Jahn
6. Mitochondrial Genome and Plant Taxonomy Jerome Duminil
7. Nuclear Ribosomal RNA Genes: ITS Region Pascale Besse
8. New Technologies for Ultra-High Throughput Genotyping in Plant Taxonomy David Edwards, Manuel Zander, Jessica Dalton-Morgan, and Jacqueline Batley
9. Development of Microsatellite Enriched Libraries Helene Vignes and Ronan Rivallan
10. Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Derived Techniques K. Nirmal Babu, M. K. Rajesh, K. Samsudeen, Divakaran Minoo, E. J. Suraby, K. Anupama, and Paul Ritto
11. Multilocus Profiling with AFLP, ISSR and SAMPL Luis F. Goulao and Cristina M. Oliveira
12. Transposon Based Tagging: IRAP, REMAP and iPBS Ruslan Kalendar and Alan H. Schulman
13. Phylogenetic Reconstruction Methods: An Overview Alexandre De Bruyn, Darren P. Martin, and Pierre Lefeuvre
14. The Application of Flow Cytometry for Estimating Genome Size and Ploidy Level in Plants Jaume Pellicer and Ilia J. Leitch
15. Molecular Cytogenetics (FISH and Flurochrome Banding): Resolving Species Relationships and Genome Organisation Sonja Siljak-Yakovlev, Fatima Pustahija, Vedrana Vicic, and Odile Robin
16. GISH: Resolving Interspecific and Intergeneric Hybrids Nathalie Piperidis
17. On the Relevance of Molecular Tools for the Taxonomy Revision in Malvales, Malvaceae s.l. and Dombeyoideae Timothee Le Pechon and Luc D. B. Gigord
18. What Has Molecular Systematics Contributed to Our Knowledge of the Plant Family Proteaceae? Peter Weston